GRAHAM NOTEBOOK: Reak(won)ing Havoc

By Andy Graham
IUHoosiers.com

BLOOMINGTON, Ind. - Fleet Virginia quarterback Bryce Perkins was flushed out of the pocket at the Indiana 47 and set sail for the east sideline, looking for a chance to turn the corner and get upfield.

He never got there.

IU redshirt junior linebacker Reakwon Jones saw to that.

Jones simultaneously avoided a crack-back block by Virginia wideout Joe Reed and executed a shoestring tackle on Perkins for no gain, helping bog down a Cavalier possession with 7:11 left in the third quarter.

The host Hoosiers officially finished with one quarterback sack during Saturday night's 20-16 victory, but they regularly made Perkins' night miserable beyond the nasty weather conditions.

IU posted nine tackles for loss, overall, from nine different defenders – and after allowing Perkins a 47-yard gallop right up the gut on the QB's second carry, limited the talented junior to just 72 more yards on 23 subsequent carries (only 3.1 yards per rush).

Jones was one reason for that. He spent much of that soggy Saturday evening "shadowing" Perkins, ensuring no other long-gainers ensued.

"Reakwon Jones was our Defensive Player of the Game and had some critical tackles for loss," Hoosiers head coach Tom Allen said Monday. "Really had him on that quarterback, chasing him around and harassing him.

"We never sacked him once, but we sure harassed him and he was throwing under duress and a lot of pressure – making him run laterally and hitting him as he was throwing and just making him not comfortable. So
(Jones) did a great job."

A crucial job, too. And that says something about the sort of responsibility with which Indiana's coaches are now willing to entrust Jones.

Jones knows he likely wouldn't have gotten that assignment a year ago, back when he was behind starters Tegray Scales and Chris Covington on the linebacker depth chart.

And he knew, after the 2017 season concluded in disappointment at Purdue, it was time to step up with Scales and Covington moving on.

"He never had to say anything directly to me," Jones said of Allen. "I knew, as soon as that Purdue game was over, it was a challenge to find who was going to be that next good/great linebacker here at Indiana. Is he in this room already, or do we have to go get him?

"I felt that challenge. I know (Allen) said we had to replace a lot on defense, and I just took it around with me. After that game, that Christmas break, I just worked my butt off to continue to grow, continue to get better, bigger, stronger and faster, as much as I could. And when Coach (David) Ballou got here (in January as the Hoosiers' new director of athletic performance), I just continued to embrace the grind. Tried to set record numbers and stuff like that. I just worked hard, really."

Allen compared the challenge Jones took on with one the coach had issued the year prior to Covington, who is now with the Dallas Cowboys.

"(Reakwon) was one that I knew had to rise and had to elevate his expectations for himself," Allen said. "He's always been a great kid, he's always done everything right, he's always been a guy that knew what he was supposed to do, (but) he had to get his body changed in terms of staying healthy.

"Kind of a similar conversation I had with Chris Covington the year before, (and) he kind of took off … (Covington had) had a history of injuries and just inconsistencies as far as on-field performance, and Reakwon was that way, physically. So just getting him right in the weight room and responding to Coach Ballou and our new staff in there (was key).

"It's a confidence thing, too. Kind of similar with (redshirt junior wideout) Donavan Hale, just the confidence to be able to believe that you're the man when you take the field and run the defense … Tegray is gone now, you've been sitting in his shadows for a couple seasons, now you got to rise up and meet that challenge. And he's responded."

Jones had little choice but to respond to the challenge Perkins posed Saturday if the Hoosiers were to ultimately prevail.

"It was definitely a great challenge," Jones said. "I'm really appreciative that Coach trusted me to be the guy to shadow such a talented running quarterback. We had a great gameplan, a great gameplan we had for a very talented guy.

"(Perkins) can run. He can throw. He's a very talented quarterback in the ACC and I think they're going to have a lot of success with him this season. And it was fun, being able to shadow their best player. Brought me even more confidence. And I'm going to take that confidence and continue to run with it. He's a fast guy, a great player. It was fun."

Jones wants to indulge in more such fun.

"Yeah, I want to be that guy that teams have to gameplan for," Jones said. "I want to step into that role. I know it takes a lot of work, a lot of time. I have to continue to prove myself, every practice and every game."

Allen felt Jones had something to prove after a relatively lackluster season-opening performance during the win at Florida International.

"He had a great spring, as we have said, and really gained a lot of confidence but didn't really play well week one," Allen said. "We challenged him about that. I thought he was a much better player in week two than he was week one. The kind of player that I saw this spring. Need him to continue to develop and grow and play with that confidence."

Jones credits Scales, a first team All-Big Ten and second team All-American performer, with instilling confidence.

"Tegray probably emphasized confidence the most to me," Jones said. "He was a very confident player. He doesn't show off, but he told me, 'When you go out there, don't think about nothing, don't worry about nothing, trust in your abilities – you're here for a reason.'

"That's something that always echoes inside my head, before I go out and play. I'm here for a reason. I'm not here for no reason. I can play. I just have to go out there and execute at the level I know I can. So that's something I really learned from him."

Scales would have enjoyed watching Jones chase Perkins down on that key third-quarter play Saturday.

It perhaps was a play Jones could not have made in 2017.

"Last year, I can't tell you if I'd have made that play or not," Jones said. "I've definitely got a step, maybe two steps, faster. That definitely shows how important the strength staff has been to our development and our ability to grow as a team.

"We bring a lot more speed and power and explosion to the game now and it's been great. It really helps."

As Perkins could attest.

ON THE FIELD AT THE END
Indiana's veteran offense closed out the 38-28 win at Florida International with a drive that ate up the final 6:03 on the clock, culminating with a first-and-goal at the Panther 1 as time expired.

Coach Allen had noted heading into the season the offense might have to carry the Hoosiers for a bit, until a youthful defense made strides.

But Allen's history is as a defensive coach, and he still retains the title of defensive coordinator at IU. And so he was happy to see the Hoosier defense afield to close out the Virginia win in week two. And it matters that he seemed perfectly willing to entrust the final result to that unit.

"Saw a lot of young guys grow up," Allen said of his defense, which has had to replace seven graduated starters and held Virginia to under 300 yards of offense Saturday. "And we talk about finishing a lot. It's been a major emphasis in our program all offseason.

"(The first) week, the game ended where the offense had the opportunity to finish and they did that and never came off the field. And then this (past) week, the defense had their opportunity to finish and they were the last ones on the field to win the game. You can talk about that, but you have to go out and do it and you have to experience it. Obviously that last drive was a lot of drama and tested a lot of people's blood pressure, myself included, but bottom line was our guys when the final buzzer sounded found a way to be on top."

After weathering all that weather Saturday night, IU finally had to withstand one last untimed down after a defensive pass interference kept Virginia alive at the Hoosier 27 with 0:00 on the clock.

But Indiana defenders made sure Perkins' final pass fell harmlessly to the turf behind the end zone, with Husky back Marcelino Ball then claiming the ball and carrying it to the celebratory IU sideline.

"I didn't see the ball (at first)," linebacker Jones said. "I saw him throw it but didn't see the ball. I was looking for the ball, then I saw it (down) out the back of the end zone and I started running off the field – I was excited. Ecstatic."

It was a second celebration for Jones. He and other Hoosiers had thought the game was over the snap before, but cornerback Raheem Layne negated his own apparent interception by committing pass interference.

"We had to go back and play one more play," Jones said. "But I was like, 'Whatever. We're going to hold them out of this end zone. We're going to win this game.' "

That attitude reveals the youthful Hoosier defense has already made some strides in terms of requisite confidence.

"It was great to see our guys come through, even with a mistake there at the end to give them another play," Mark Hagen, IU's co-defensive coordinator and defensive line coach, said Tuesday. "Again, our guys didn't waver.

"It wasn't perfect. We had a chance to make plays earlier (on a couple of fourth downs during the final drive). We had a chance to get to the quarterback. And give him credit – he was very, very elusive. But our guys kept coming. And when guys weren't there to get him on the ground, we had guys behind them to make him run sideways, throw on the run.

"We made him uncomfortable. We pushed him off the spot, which is what you've got to do to quarterbacks. It maybe doesn't always show up in the number of sacks, but we got him off the spot a bunch, and we just kept coming. We were definitely relentless."

And the required result was attained.

"It was definitely what we needed," Jones said. "Coach Allen talked about it in the meeting: 'Last week, the offense did this and we didn't do this.' And this week it came down to us being able to make a stop, to make some plays.

"It's something we practice every day. We emphasize it at practice. Finishing is our 'one word' (motto for the season). We brought a drill called 'The Finisher' into our practice to really emphasize how important it is to finish.

"Especially looking at last year and these past few years, finishing has been something we've struggled with. So just to be able to see us finish the game and finish it strong, and celebrate with each other, it was a great feeling."

"It was what needed to be done. It was great to step up and perform like we needed to. A lot of times in the past, that hasn't happened."

Hagen echoed that observation, and hopes Saturday's result carries over.

"It was great to see us be able to close out a game," Hagen said. "I never sensed any panic or nervousness, but rather that it was just part of our job. That's the mindset we've tried to build the last two years. Even though we've got a lot of new faces out there, that's what we want the standard to be."

Senior safety Jonathan Crawford has started all 40 career games at Indiana and was already a stalwart veteran when the Hoosier defense finished ranked 27^th nationally a year ago. He now helps lead a much younger unit, but knows that the standard hasn't changed.

"We take pride in it," Crawford said. "That's what Coach Allen always says – he wants the game on our shoulders. And the fact that we finished it out, with it on our shoulders, gives us confidence, too."

"We all came together to finish the game … that's huge, going forward. We know we did it once, so we can do it again."

Allen will doubtlessly ask them to do it again.

His confidence is growing that they will.

"They're just young," Allen said. "Just got to continue to bring them along … we're still making mistakes on defense. Played much better than we did in week one in the area of execution, but still not where we want to be. But the effort was awesome. And I make such a big deal about that because that's the one thing that those guys control. And they played so, so hard.

"And the thing I love about that now is, as I said many times, how young they are and inexperienced they are but (that) there's a whole bunch of them and we played several on Saturday. And they all made tackles and they all made plays at the key times, whether it was on special teams or on defense. And I think the future's really bright for that group."

COMING OUT A HEAD
With defensive end James Head Jr.'s appearance in the Virginia win, Indiana has now played 10 true freshmen in the first two games – matching the number that played all of last season.

Add eight redshirst freshmen to that 2018 participation list, too.

"He was out there just a little bit on Saturday," Hagen acknowledged of Head. "(Sophomore defensive end) Mike Ziemba is another young guy I want to get out there and get some reps. And we're going to need
those guys because it's a long year. You get banged up. We've got a couple of guys who got dinged up a bit on Saturday.

"So we've just got to keep building depth. And we've got the bodies to do it. I tell Pat Kuntz, my GA (graduate assistant), to stay in my ear about it. Because if I don't get a kid in there during the first half of a close game, I'm certainly not putting him in during the second half (with a game on the line.)

"We're still trying to fall into maybe a little more of a natural rotation right now with our defensive front. I'm not as comfortable – it's not as smooth as I'd maybe like it to be. I do think I've got a pretty good feel for our top eight to 10 guys. But there are others that I want to get out there."

So count on that freshman count to rise further, and on both sides of the ball, especially in light of the new NCAA rule that permits newcomers to play in four games while retaining redshirt status.

"The numbers are there," Hagen said of his unit. "I just need to keep working with it, moving pieces around, doing different combinations. But I like our guys."
Including the young guys.

Players Mentioned

Chris Covington

Jonathan Crawford

Donavan Hale

James Head Jr.

Reakwon Jones

Raheem Layne

Marcelino McCrary-Ball

Tegray Scales

Indiana University Athletics